Charles Oliveira likes being the betting underdog against Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.
Despite holding multiple UFC records and being on a huge nine-fight win streak, newly-crowned UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira is still somewhat of a dark horse at 155 pounds.
‘Do Bronx’ recently TKO’d Michael Chandler at UFC 262 to seize the lightweight throne, but that wasn’t enough to sway the odds in his favor against Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, who are set to collide in a trilogy bout at the upcoming, highly anticipated UFC 264 pay-per-view on July 10.
Oliveira has opened as the betting underdog against both men, but that suits him just fine, as the Brazilian is happy to continue to prove the doubters wrong.
“No, that makes me happy. I like being the underdog,” Oliveira told MMA Fighting when asked about being the underdog against Poirier and McGregor. “I go there and prove it. Brother, I’ve made history ever since I got in the UFC. Every time people said I couldn’t do something, I went there and proved them wrong. When they gave me someone and said they would knock me out, I proved them wrong,” Oliveira said. “Every time they said someone would knock me out, they ended up beat up on the feet and shooting for takedowns. I show my firepower, my knockout power. I’ll tell you this, being the underdog or ‘the man of the hour’ makes no difference to me. What matters is what you can do in there. Every time you get in there is 50-50 and whoever has the best strategy and is better prepared will win.”
Oliveira is expected to defend the lightweight title against the winner of Poirier vs. McGregor in late 2021.